Northeast Ohio native: ‘We’re 100% Nashville’

By John Benson

With a name like Butter (as you can guess, not his real name), you better believe this Northeast-Ohio-native-turned-rising-Nashville-star is as smooth as they come. Still, no matter where his travels may take him, he said he’s a Buckeye State guy at heart.

“I grew up in Ashtabula, Ohio, which is right up Route 11,” said Butter, calling from Nashville. “So yeah, I had been to Youngstown to see a couple of football games when I was in high school. Musically I grew up with kind of a rock upbringing — obviously Cleveland — and the type of music I grew up on wasn’t as particularly country as my life has become and I have grown to love.

In an effort to get a dual education, Butter moved to Nashville where he attended Middle Tennessee State University (he’s a good friend of former Cleveland Browns quarterback Kelly Holcomb’s) by day and the Music City club scene by night. Eventually he hooked up with singers Crystal Hoyt and Vinnie “The Mack” Hickerson to form the Trailer Choir.

It wasn’t until the act caught the attention of country music superstar Toby Keith that the Trailer Choir became one of Nashville’s biggest buzz bands. Not only is the threesome signed to Keith’s record label and currently recording its debut effort (with Keith producing), but they appeared in his recently released feature film “Beer for My Horses.” In addition, Trailer Choir’s song “Off the Hillbilly Hook” was included in the movie and received tons of promotion.

“I think where it first came about was Toby loved the song,” Butter said. “That’s when he flew us out to New Mexico and [we] had a small part in the movie at the end of it as a bar band, which fits us because that’s where we grew out of, playing in bars and clubs. He’s got a really neat way of trying to help us. He’s offered us his name and reputation, but he wants us out there working and building it. So it was a way to give us some notoriety.”

Among the songs the act has recorded for its early 2009 debut effort are “Rockin’ the Beer Gut,” “Rollin’ Through the Sunshine” and “In My Next Five Beers.” You can hear the new tunes for yourself when Trailer Choir comes to Lisbon on Sunday for a show at The Dirty Boot Saloon.

In addition to its own catchy material, the act has been known to kick out a few crossover covers, such as John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane,” Oasis’ “Wonderwall” and Steve Miller’s “The Joker.” Invariably, Trailer Choir falls into the current zeitgeist of Sugarland-esque bands that have a pop-rock sensibility tangled up with country roots and classic rock inspirations. With that in mind, does Butter feel his trio fits comfortably into the Music City scene?

“We’re 100 percent Nashville, although I think we have a little bit different flavor,” Butter said. “The radio aspect of country music, it’s a difficult place to break in. We’re definitely accepted and growing, but I also feel we are a little bit different, especially the visual aspect.

“I’m not the most country-sounding guy in my lead vocals, but the messages and things we talk about are all right in with what country music is all about, so I’d say we’re in it. We just have a little bit different coloring and a little bit different flavor.”